"A Life of the Party": The radical journey of Amy Schechter

What propelled the daughter of a renowned Jewish scholar to join a movement on the fringe of American society? In a new book, "A Life of the Party," journalist Dave Schechter delves into the story of his great-aunt, who made Communism her way to repair the world.

An FBI informant labeled Amy Schechter “a regular ten-minute egg” (as in hard-boiled). The New York Times called her “one of the most ardent among the New York radicals.” A Jewish columnist wrote that she was “one of the few genuinely idealistic Communists; she lives up to her ideals in her private life, sharing what she has with others less fortunate.”

The youngest of Solomon and Mathilde Roth Schechter's three children was born in England, educated in the United States and, as a member of the Communist Party, devoted more than four decades, beginning in the early 1920s, to the struggles of working men and women.

"A Life of the Party" blends the historical record with narrative fiction fitting Amy Schechter's life and times. Amy's adventures took her to Russia — to a little-known colony of American Communists in Siberia and to the International Lenin School in Moscow — and across the United States, from coal fields and textile mills to docks and shipyards.

Amy reported on labor issues for Communist newspapers and other sympathetic publications. Her own name appeared in headlines and articles during the 1929 Loray Mill strike in Gastonia, North Carolina — one of the most violent of its time — where she was an organizer and one of 16 defendants tried for murder when the police chief was shot to death.

"Under different circumstances, as a Jew visiting from out of town, Amy likely would have received an invitation to a Passover Seder the night of April 24, 1929. Instead, she was released from jail that morning after her second arrest in two days after deliberately violating the city’s new ban on parading," Schechter writes. It's also likely that the Jews who owned mills near Gastonia would not have wanted Amy at their table.

The book project began in 1999, with a letter that Schechter's father received a letter from an expert on Soviet activities in the United States, asking about a man with whom Amy had a relationship. Along with the letter came three pages of a heavily-redacted FBI report. That piqued Schechter's interest.

His research included using the Freedom of Information Act to obtain hundreds of pages of FBI reports. A CNN colleague in Moscow unearthed a document from Soviet archives. Schechter combed through articles that reported on Amy's activities and read dozens that she wrote. He had enlightening conversations with two 88-year-old comrades who had their own memories of Amy.

“Were she around today, I have no doubt that Amy would have supported the current labor struggles and racial justice protests,” Schechter says. “History may not have been kind to the Communists, but in Amy’s time the Communists often were at the forefront in calling attention to economic and social inequities in the United States, and in organizing people for change.”

Dave Schechter's journalism career has extended from a daily newspaper and local television stations to the Cable News Network bureau in Jerusalem, and 26-plus years on CNN's national news desk. As a freelance writer for the past 11 years, he has been honored with Rockower Awards from the American Jewish Press Association. Dave lives in Atlanta with his wife, journalist and children’s book author Audrey Galex. They are the parents of three adult children and cater to two grand-dogs.

"A Life of the Party" is available online at Amazon.Com, Bookshop.Org, BarnesandNoble.Com, ReaderHouse.Com, and other sites. More information at: https://www.daveschechter.com/

Media contact: Lora Sommer/ 404.784.1705 / lora@sommerPR.com

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